Once Minato began moving, Sora stopped paying attention to the battlefield. He trusted Minato completely.
At this moment, his eyes darted rapidly, scanning every direction for signs of Uchiha Obito. But even after Minato had successfully rescued the two, Sora still hadn't caught sight of him.
Not far from Sora, deep within a patch of forest, Obito stood there blankly.
"White Zetsu, let me go! I need to find Rin and Lord Minato!"
"Obito, you're in no shape to go out right now. We should head back to Lord Madara."
As he spoke, White Zetsu began dragging Obito's body backward.
Wrapped completely in White Zetsu's body, Obito had no chance to resist. No matter how hard he struggled, he could only watch helplessly as he was pulled farther and farther from Minato and the others.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all!"
He cursed inwardly over and over, yet he couldn't even open his mouth to speak.
Elsewhere, Black Zetsu was gritting his teeth. "How is this possible? Namikaze Minato should be in Konoha—how could he suddenly appear here?"
A thousand-year-old manipulator indeed lives up to the title. Even in a moment like this, Black Zetsu quickly composed himself and hurried toward the cave where Uchiha Madara was hiding.
Everyone involved in this battle had excellent concealment techniques—Sora had been observing for quite a while but had still found nothing.
"I wonder if Obito saw what happened..." He shook his head slightly and thought to himself, "It doesn't really matter. He probably did. Even if not, it's fine."
With that, he brought Kushina over to where Minato, Kakashi, and the others were.
By the time the two of them arrived, Minato had already wiped out the remaining dozen enemy Genin.
"Wahhh! Lord Minato, there's a monster inside me! If I go back to Konoha, I'll destroy the village! Please—just kill me!"
Having realized she hadn't been struck by Kakashi's Chidori, Rin burst into tears, clutching her head in despair.
Sora couldn't help but chuckle. That kind of lie could only fool children. Then he turned to Kushina and said, "The people from Kirigakure sealed the Three-Tails inside Rin, but the seal is unstable. Kushina, could you help reinforce it?"
As soon as Sora spoke, Minato and Kushina both understood. The reason behind Rin's behavior became clear.
They exchanged a look and let out a helpless laugh before comforting her. "It's alright. It's just a Tailed Beast. Your teacher Kushina also has one sealed inside her—an even stronger one—and she's perfectly fine, isn't she?"
As they spoke, Kushina even released a trace of Nine-Tails chakra to reassure her.
"R-Really?" Rin sniffled, looking up at Kushina pitifully.
Kushina nodded gently. "Yes, it's true. It's been many years already. Now I'll place a proper seal on you. After that, everything will be fine."
As she spoke, Kushina pressed her hand to Rin's lower abdomen and shouted, "Eight Trigrams Seal!"
This was the sealing technique Kushina was most skilled in—perfect for sealing Tailed Beasts. Even though Rin wasn't from the Uzumaki Clan, it could still be applied.
In Naruto's era, only Naruto himself had Uzumaki blood among all the Jinchūriki. The others didn't, and they still successfully became hosts for Tailed Beasts.
Now, the sealing technique used on Rin was clearly more advanced than anything Kirigakure had. She was fully qualified to become a Jinchūriki.
This was all part of Sora's plan from the beginning.
"Minato, Kushina—since the Mizukage was kind enough to give us the Three-Tails, I suppose we'll reluctantly accept it," Sora said with a teasing smile.
Once someone became a Jinchūriki, removing the Tailed Beast would kill them. With Minato's personality, he'd never allow that.
This meant the Three-Tails was now Konoha's—war or not.
As for the Third Hokage and the other old men? If they stayed out of it, fine. But if they dared to interfere, Sora would have no problem breaking their hands.
Just now, he had picked up two cards—one for Chidori, and the other for the Flying Thunder God Technique he'd dreamed of.
『Fuse Chidori and Flying Thunder God?』
『Fuse!』
『S-rank Ninjutsu: Chidori—Fusion successful.S-rank Forbidden Jutsu: Flying Thunder God—Fusion successful.』
Though excitement surged in his heart, Sora didn't immediately check his system panel. Instead, he said to Minato and Kushina, "Taking the Three-Tails means Kirigakure won't just let this go. We need to be careful."
They were far from Konoha. Even Minato couldn't teleport so many people back from here.
And Sora had just acquired Flying Thunder God—not even a single marker was placed back in Konoha yet. They'd have to cut their way back through enemy lines.
Minato and Kushina nodded seriously. They fully understood the gravity of the situation.
At that moment, all four of them—Minato, Kushina, Kakashi, and Rin—had countless questions. But none of them voiced them. They knew there would be time to ask later.
Right now, the most important thing was to leave.
...
Just as Sora and the others were preparing to leave, Black Zetsu returned to Madara's hideout ahead of Obito.
"Lord Madara, the mission encountered a setback. For some reason, Konoha's Fourth Hokage—Namikaze Minato—appeared on the battlefield and rescued the girl, ruining our plan."
The moment he arrived, Black Zetsu didn't hesitate to spill everything, playing the loyal servant role to perfection.
"What?!"
Madara's drooping head suddenly lifted. In his eye, a Sharingan with three tomoe spun wildly, and a terrifying aura burst forth.
"Notify the Mizukage. Tell him Konoha's Hokage infiltrated and stole the Three-Tails. Let them deal with it themselves!"
"And find a way to brainwash Obito. Don't let what happened today derail our plans!"
After giving his orders, Madara seemed to draw upon the last of his strength before collapsing weakly onto the ground.
At his current age, he could only survive thanks to the tubes connected to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Otherwise, he would've died long ago.
Being able to unleash such force even now was already impressive.
"Yes, I'll handle it immediately!"
In the next moment, Black Zetsu's form melted into the ground and silently disappeared to deliver intel to the Mizukage.
Not long after Black Zetsu left, White Zetsu returned with Obito, and let him go once they were inside.
"Why didn't you let me go to Rin and Lord Minato?!"
Furious, Obito pointed straight at Madara and demanded answers.
A flicker of anger passed through Madara's eye, but he still replied in a kind, gentle tone, "Obito, your body hasn't healed yet. Your face is disfigured. Do you really want them to see you like this?"
"I—"
Obito hesitated. Thinking about it… Madara did have a point.
If he showed up like this, wouldn't he just scare Rin?
With that thought in mind, Obito quickly bowed his head and apologized, "I misunderstood. I'm sorry. But I saw Kirigakure's shinobi attacking Rin—I want revenge!"